Mouth (song)

"Mouth"
Single by Merril Bainbridge
from the album The Garden
Released	21 November 1994 (see release history)
Format	CD
Recorded	001 Studios, Carlton, Victoria, 1994
Genre	Adult contemporary
Length	3:25
Label	Gotham, Universal
Writer(s)	Merril Bainbridge
Producer	Siew
Certification	Platinum (ARIA), Gold (RIAA)
Merril Bainbridge singles chronology
"Mouth" (1994) "Under the Water" (1995)
Alternative cover The cover of the single released in the United States

"Mouth" is a pop song written by Merril Bainbridge, and produced by Siew for Bainbridge's debut album The Garden (1995). It was released as the album's first single in the end of November 1994 in Australia, then was re-issued on 13 March 1995. It became her biggest hit to date peaking at number-one on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks^[1]. The song also became a Top 5 hit in the United States.

Content and music videos

The song, a playful and suggestive tune, was often referred to having something related to sexual themes. Bainbridge stated that "(Any sexuality on "Mouth" was) not deliberate - it was definitely not a sexual song. It's just honest - about a relationship, how you feel in a relationship. Sometimes you feel you're in control and the next thing, you're insecure - it's the role playing thing. To me, it's not about straight up sexuality. It doesn't bother me if people connect with that, because obviously it's there, but it wasn't something I was aware of"^[2].

There were two music videos for the song, both directed by one of Gotham Records founders Ross Fraser^[3]. The first video is a simple video with no plot, shot in both black and white and colour. Scenes included Bainbridge flirting with a man in a car and singing to camera wearing a black lingerie dress with a red heart in the middle of it. This video was released in Australia. The second video is in black and white and is just Bainbridge in a car kissing a man for the whole video, looking at the camera three times. This video as well as the first, was released around the world. The first music video can be found on the special edition of The Garden as a CD Rom.

Chart performance

It was first released in Australia in 1994 but disappeared quickly due to lack of interest and airplay, becoming lost in the annual flood of releases that occur around Christmas. The song was repackaged and reissued in 1995 and with the help of airplay and more promo it became the biggest song of her career. It debuted on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at number forty-two and after just six weeks it achieved the number-one position and stayed there for six consecutive weeks^[1]. This feat gave Bainbridge the accolade of having longest running number one by an Australian female in the 90's. "Mouth" spent a total of twenty-one weeks in the charts^[1], was the fourth highest selling single for 1995^[4] and was accredited platinum by ARIA. The song was nominated for five ARIA Awards in 1995 - "Single of the Year", "Best Female Artist", "Best New Talent", "Breakthrough Artist - Single" and "Best Pop Release" but failed to win.^[5]

The song was released in the United States on 20 August 1996 and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number sixty-seven and eventually peaked at number four. Success in the American music industry was, and still is, a relatively rare occurrence for Australian artists and the success of "Mouth" in the U.S. gave Bainbridge superstar status in her home country for a period. Ross Fraser stated that he thought she would have had more chance of success in Europe and what happened in the U.S. came as a surprise^[6]. The song spent a total of thirty weeks in the U.S. charts and was the thirty-seventh highest selling single for 1996. It was accredited gold by RIAA selling 600,000 copies around the U.S.^[7]. After the success of the song, Bainbridge toured the U.S. and during that tour she played at Madison Square Gardens in New York with Sheryl Crow. The song did not enjoy the same success in the UK, peaking at fifty-one in the charts during its eight week run in the top two hundred. The song also went top five in Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines^[8].

Track listing

CD single "Mouth" — 3:27 "Being Boring" — 3:53 "Song for Neen" — 2:41 "Mouth" (off the track mix) — 2:17 U.S. CD single "Mouth" — 3:25 "Julie" — 3:54

The Remixes "Mouth" (aversion mix) — 4:03 "Mouth" (di version mix) — 5:41 "Mouth" (conversion mix) — 7:18 "Mouth" (reversion mix) — 3:58 "Mouth" (inversion mix) — 3:58 "Mouth" — 3:25 "Julie" — 3:54

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[9] 1 New Zealand Singles Chart[10] 17 Chart (1996) Peak position Canada Singles Chart[11] 1 UK Singles Chart[12] 51 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 4 U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[13] 8 U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[13] 23 U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[13] 2 Chart (1997) Peak position Germany Singles Chart[14] 71

Year-End Charts Chart (1995) Peak position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[4] 4 Chart (1996) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100[15] 53 Chart (1997) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100[16] 42

Preceded by "Back for Good" by Take That	ARIA (Australia) number one single 21 May 1995 — 25 June 1995	Succeeded by "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" by Bryan Adams
Preceded by "How Bizarre" by OMC	Canada number one single 11 January 1997	Succeeded by "How Bizarre" by OMC

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue
Australia	21 November 1994	Gotham Records	CD	74321-23641-2
Japan	21 February 1996	BMG Japan	CD	BVCP-8822
United States	20 August 1996	Universal Records	CD	74321431012
United Kingdom	11 November 1996	Arista Records	CD	74321431012

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Australian Chart Run". Australian-charts. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
2. ^ "Merril Bainbridge - Bob Gajarsky". westnet.com]. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
3. ^ "Music video director". mvdbase. http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=2277. Retrieved 21 December 2006. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Singles 1995". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
5. ^ "ARIA Award nominations". ARIA Awards. http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php?letter=M&artist=Merril%20Bainbridge. Retrieved 16 December 2006. 
6. ^ "The Making of Merril page 4". thei.aust.com. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
7. ^ "U.S. certification". RIAA. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
8. ^ "The Making of Merril page 3". thei.aust.com. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
9. ^ "Australian chart position". Australian-charts. http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Merril+Bainbridge&cat=s. Retrieved 8 December 2006. 
10. ^ "New Zealand chart position". charts.org. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Merril+Bainbridge&titel=Mouth&cat=s. Retrieved 16 July 2007. 
11. ^ "Canada chart position". their.aust.com. http://web.archive.org/web/19970525232410/www.thei.aust.com/isite/merril3.html. Retrieved 22 December 2006. 
12. ^ "UK chart run". Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=7965. Retrieved 12 July 2007. 
13. ^ ^{a b c d} "Merril Bainbridge - Artist Chart History". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
14. ^ "Germany chart position". charts-surfer.de. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070702104440/http://www.charts-surfer.de/musiksearch.php. Retrieved 18 August 2007. 
15. ^ "Merril Bainbridge Mouth - Chart Listing for the Week of 31 Dec 1996". Billboard. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
16. ^ "Merril Bainbridge Mouth - Chart Listing for the Week of 31 Dec 1997". Billboard. Retrieved 26 October 2008.

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